


Armageddon

by Keolah



Category: Bible - Fandom, Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Angst, Apocalypse, Gen, Inappropriate Humor, Religion, Self-Insert, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1998-01-01
Updated: 1998-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-16 13:57:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/540185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Keolah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The end of the world is heralded with a Chinese invasion of Oregon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Armageddon

They stood alone in the empty field, looking over what they had done, and wept. They murmured, "Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned."

Thousands lay dead. Hundreds of thousands. Perhaps even millions. It was the end of a great war, a war of tremendous magnitude, a war to end all wars. There will be no more wars now. There aren't enough people left alive to wage a war. This battlefield scene was repeated in points all around the globe. Six billion. Six billion people died in this war. 

"There will be no more wars," I whispered. I fell to my knees and asked God why He had spared me, one of a few who still lived. It is a terrible thing to be the only survivor of all the people you ever knew. 

There is no victory in such a war. There is survival only. And in my eyes, so long as some of us remain alive, in spite of everything, we have indeed won. Now we must focus upon the survival of humankind. We few have been given a chance to do it over again. Let us not stray this time. 

I have been asked to record all that I have seen these past few years, so that future generations may remember what has happened here, and not repeat those mistakes. I shall begin my tale the day we got word that we were at war. It was no surprise to me, for war had been threatening for years. I, however, was among the few who believed in our warnings. 

"Why now?" wondered one of my friends, Andrew. 

"They're ready now," I replied. "It's like in that computer game. They were training massive amounts of troops." 

My grandmother uttered soulfully, "The end is coming. I knew it. All the signs were there." 

We had no idea that our hometown was one of their first targets. They came over the coast range without slowing, except when their tanks got stuck in some mud. Finally we realized that our climate did serve some purpose, if only to slow the enemy down. 

"Would you believe?" another of my friends, Kevin, told me. "Three tanks are stuck in the mud out by Veneta. You'd think they could make tanks mud-proof." 

"They'll get 'em out," I shrugged, always the pessimist. "Tanks have trample." 

"I hope they don't come here," moaned Shawn. 

"That would be cool!" exclaimed Angela. "We could get our swords and--" 

"You watch too much TV," I told her. 

"I wish I could summon a Lord of the Pit and sick it on them," commented Shawn. 

"No you don't," said Andrew. 

"Those things are more trouble than they're worth," I added. 

"Or at least a dragon," suggested Shawn. 

"That would be nice," Roy said ruefully. 

"Actually, our enemy sees the dragon as a good luck symbol," I commented. 

"Good luck for who?" wondered Andrew. 

"Besides, all such fantasy is pointless," I told them. "It won't help us when they get here." 

"When?" several of them intoned. 

"Yes, when," I confirmed. "There's no question about it. They're coming here to Eugene." 

"Why?" 

"An easy target, to demoralize our people. An easy victory to show America that resistance is futile." 

"Well, when they get here, let's show them that resistance is not futile." 

Two days passed, and they finally got their tanks unstuck and got moving again. By then we were armed. We joined the border guards in western Eugene and waited for the enemy to arrive. We didn't have long to wait. 

"Heaven help us," murmured one of the police officers. The tanks slowed only long enough to point their weapons at us and start firing. Those who didn't run immediately were rolled over. I and my friends retreated immediately, like a bunch of orcs. We decided to abandon conventional warfare and try guerrilla tactics. We hid out in buildings and in alleys and shot off individual attackers. 

I met with Andrew, Kevin, Shawn, and Angela on a street called Woodsboro. We had set up a temporary fortification there, since the tanks were moving eastward through the heart of Eugene. 

"What are we gonna do?" I asked. 

"Shoot 'em! Shoot 'em!" cried Angela. 

"I don't know," Shawn shook his head. 

"We need a plan," Andrew answered. 

"I say we get some X-wings," suggested Kevin. 

"No Star Wars!" shouted Andrew. 

"That's a good idea," I said, thinking. 

"What are you talking about?" wondered Andrew. 

"We need aerial fighters," I told him. "The Air Force apparently doesn't know about this invasion here yet, or something. They may be trying to guard somewhere else. But if we had things in the air, we could better fight them." 

"Good idea, but how do we accomplish that?" asked Andrew. 

I shook my head. Ideas were fine, but I couldn't think how to implement them. 

"We could continue our present tactics," Shawn shrugged. 

I sighed and walked to the window. An area to the north was on fire. I could hear gunshots from here. "We can't just stay here waiting. We have to do something." I felt tears stinging my eyes, but I blinked them back. 

Then our base was stormed. It happened so suddenly I couldn't react in time. Angela and Shawn were cut down in the first volley. "NO!!" I shouted, rushing to their aid. I fired and fired, and they shot at me repeatedly, but I was untouched. I was like a rampaging berzerker, invincible, untouchable, unstoppable. At last the attackers who were still alive fled. They had seen something which they could not readily deal with, and I didn't yet know myself what it was. 

Shawn was beyond my help. He just lay there, bleeding his life away, not even strong enough to moan. Angela had been shot twice in the legs. I tried to bandage her, but I didn't know how. I knew she would likely get an infection. Kevin's head had been blown off. Andrew had been shot in the left arm, and I bandaged him as well. Then Daryl, Bob, and Roy appeared, and gasped. They tried to help the wounded as best as they were able, but there was no help for Kevin or Shawn. 

They asked no questions. They all knew what had happened. 

We were attacked again before nightfall. I had appointed myself as guard over the others. This time they came from us from two directions at once. I might as well have been wielding an automatic rifle for how often I shot. Yet it wasn't enough. Angela and Andrew were killed immediately this time. I couldn't take it anymore. I screamed and ran into the front lines of the enemy troops, shooting and flailing like a madwoman. 

They literally didn't know what hit them. They shielded their eyes from me as if blinded. I ran of bullets and dropped my gun. I stood there, surrounded by enemies, untouched, unharmed. 

"Go!" I cried in a booming voice. "Leave this shore at once! Return to your homes!" 

"I can't," whispered the enemy. "I can't." 

I grabbed weapons and returned to my friends. "Strike me down if you will," I said to any enemies that may be listening. "But do not touch my friends!" 

I protected them with my life, yet each and every one of them was killed before my eyes. Every last person I could call my friend was killed in those few days. My last ties to reality were snapped with those losses, and I went on a rampage to destroy as many enemy soldiers as possible, and then some. 

In the years that followed, I killed perhaps ten thousand of their troops single-handedly, except perhaps for the help of God. Then I suddenly stopped fighting, choosing instead to fight by not fighting. I stood in their path, daring them to cut me down, but they didn't, or couldn't. 

A few groups were still fighting east of here, thousands of miles east of here. The first battle in Eugene was only a minor skirmish compared to the war there. I wish I could say that I played a pivotal role in the ultimate war that followed, but I didn't, and I am now glad I didn't. 

There are a few pockets of humans left alive in different parts of the world. I went away from the group of refugees and sought the ruins of Eugene. There I see the spirits of my friends, always with me, and at last released to the firmament by the ending of the war. All glows with a holy aura, for they gave their lives so that others may live. I reach out my hand and feel nothing, only an inexplicable warmth. Then the spirits depart.


End file.
